Vengeance
by Morena Evensong
Summary: Harry is home for his last summer at Private Dr. But things at the Dursleys start getting a bit odd from the moment a new neighbour shows up. . . who happens to be an old friend of Petunia's. Xover with Buffy the Vampire Slayer. COMPLETED!
1. Part 1 of 3

**Hello**, this is an idea I've had for a while and I finally got around to writing it down. It has three parts and all three already written, so updates will be every couple of days. This is a crossover with _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, but the presence is really minimal until the last part, so that's why it's in the _Harry Potter_ section (in case anyone was wondering).

Disclaimer: I own neither Buffy the Vampire Slayer nor Harry Potter.

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**Vengeance - Part 1**

Harry Potter had been home for an entire day and already he was wishing he could hex everything in sight. Well, maybe not everything. Now that he knew Miss. Figg was a squib and only pretended to be a miserable old hag, he figured he might be convinced to spare her. That did not, however apply to her cats.

'Though Fluffy might like them,' he mused.

The only thing that kept him from giving into temptation was the knowledge that this was his very last summer at Private Dr. All he had to do was survive the next month or so and he would never have to see the house or its inhabitants ever again. Unfortunately, that did not help to make said inhabitants less irritating.

Arriving by floo did nothing to help his relative's already hostile attitude towards him either. The Order had hooked their fireplace to the network this year, saying it was safer for him than travelling via the Hogwarts Express with all the other students.

The extra security precautions annoyed Harry. He had always hated being treated differently because of being the Boy-Who-Lived, but there was a difference between being treated like a celebrity and being treated like a priceless porcelain doll that was so fragile it might break if it so much as brushed another object. On the one hand, he spent hours training every week in order to prepare him for Voldemort and on the other hand he couldn't make a step out of Gryffindor Tower without a bodyguard, otherwise known as Tonks under an invisibility spell.

When Dumbledore had first told Harry of the decision to assign Tonks to him, Harry hadn't really thought much of it. He liked Tonks and thought it might be neat having her around. He hadn't realized just how unnerving it was to have someone watching his every step. Especially since he couldn't see them and didn't know exactly where they were. Although Tonks, being Tonks, tended to give away her location every so often when she tripped over something. At first Harry found it adorable and chuckled at the auror's clumsiness. Later it just became a constant reminder of his permanent babysitter.

His friends had tried to cheer him up, telling him to look on the bright side: it was better than being careless and ending up dead. Harry didn't really see how that was a bright side. After all, according to the prophesy he would have to face Voldemort at some point in time anyway and if someone kidnapped him, he'd just meet Voldemort a tad sooner than expected.

When Tonks and Moody flooed to 4 Private Dr. with Harry they had also set up some additional wards around the house. Aunt Petunia had been far from impressed with magic being used inside her house, but said nothing. Uncle Vernon hadn't been home at the time, but shot his nephew a murderous look as soon as he arrived.

Currently it was 4 pm and Harry was lazily washing the morning and afternoon dishes. The first few days back were always the worse. After having all the cooking and cleaning done for you by house elves, to suddenly have to do it yourself was a pain. His aunt humming off-tune as she dusted in the next room only made things worse.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door and the terrible humming stopped as Petunia went to open it.

"Hello?" she said.

"Hi, I just moved in next door and just thought I'd come 'round and introduce myself. . ." Harry heard a man say.

"Oh. Dear. Lord." Petunia gasped. Harry froze. His aunt never swore. Unless she was insulting his parents or the Wizarding World. Harry softly put down the glass he was polishing and crept towards the kitchen door, which looked out into the hall.

"Oh my. . ." the male voice finally continued, "Pet. . .Petunia?" He paused. "Petunia Evans?"

"Dursley."

"What?"

"It's Dursley now, Petunia Dursley. I'm. . . I married a bloke named Vernon Dursley 17 years ago."

"Pity. Well, I'm still single."

"That does not surprise me Ethan. No woman in her right mind would marry you; you're nothing but trouble."

Finally Harry caught sight of the man. He had short, dark hair, a slim figure and wasn't much taller than his aunt. He wore slim-fit blue jeans and a black, short-sleeve t-shirt. He was grinning from ear to ear.

Harry didn't trust him. There was something in his eyes and the way he casually leaned against the doorframe that reminded Harry of Draco Malfoy. Yes, there was definitely something very Slytherin about the man: malicious, calculating and evil.

'So, how does he know my aunt then?' Harry thought, but his analysis was interrupted by loud laughter.

"And then Ripper says. . ." the man named Ethan said, gesturing wildly, "bloody vampires, can't take them anywhere."

And, as if just to shock Harry speechless, Petunia burst out laughing, leaning against the wall for support. Harry's hand automatically went out to grab hold of the small table that stood next to the doorway to the kitchen.

He missed. Then silently cursed his way through several seconds of clumsy fumbling as he lost balance and almost fell onto said table, upsetting the large vase that sat on top of it. Harry thanked the gods for his seeker reflexes as his right hand automatically snapped out to grab it before it smashed into many, many pieces.

"Well hello there," Ethan said, cocking his head to the side before looking to Petunia who was sending Harry a death glare that would've made Snape proud. "Is he yours?"

"Absolutely not!" Petunia's head snapped back to Ethan, "He's my sister's."

"Ahhh yes. . . Tigerlily. . . so where is she now anyway?"

"Dead."

"Oh." He pause and shrugged. "I'd say I'm sorry, but you didn't really like her much anyway, so I won't bother."

Harry noticed his aunt roll her eyes.

"Sensitivity was never your strong point, was it?"

"No, but then again I never pretended it was."

"True, you always specialized in immaturity."

"Maturity is so overrated. When you mature, you get this." He spread his arms out and gestured at the entire house. Petunia grabbed his right wrist and pulled his arm towards himself to inspect it.

"Oh my God," she gasped, looking at his forearm, "what happened?"

"Sulphuric acid," he shrugged.

"Is this where. . .?"

"Yes."

"Oh my. . . but why did you?"

"He came back."

"What! Where is he now?"

"Ripper and his girl took care of it."

"His girl? Someone actually married that leather-clad wonder?"

"No, no, not even close. He joined the Council. Doesn't wear leather anymore either."

"A leather-less Ripper? I'll believe that when I see it."

Ethan burst out laughing.

"Well, in that case you might just go into shock when you see him. I'll have to arrange it. He's in London now you know, what with being the new Council Head and all."

"You're joking!"

"No, not at all."

Just then uncle Vernon's car turned into the driveway.

"That's my husband coming home from work," Petunia said and Harry thought she almost sounded disappointed. Ethan turned around and watched Vernon get out of the car.

"Petunia please tell me he has a wonderful personality," Petunia glared at him, but he wasn't fazed in the least. "No, I mean it. You could've had me, or Ripper, or both of us. . . at once; and you ended up with THAT!"

Harry mentally prepared himself for the fit his aunt was bound to throw.

"Ethan, shut up!" she giggled and lightly slapped Ethan's arm. Harry gaped.

Uncle Vernon cleared his throat and gave the stranger his best disapproving frown as he took in his attire and the casual attitude he seemed to have towards his wife.

"Oh hello dear," Petunia said and placed a kiss on her husband's cheek. Ethan raised an eyebrow.

"Hello Petunia," Vernon grunted, "who's this?"

"This is Ethan Rayne, he just moved in next door. He's an old friend of mine, from back before I met you."

"I see."

"Yes well, it's certainly nice to meet you Vernon," Ethan said and stuck his hand out. Vernon carefully took it. They talked for about another ten minutes before Ethan left. But not before giving Petunia a huge hug. Which Vernon did not like one bit.

"Petunia," he began as soon as Ethan left, "I don't like that man. There's just something strange about him. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if he turns out to be another one of those freaks!"

As much as Harry hated agreeing with his uncle, he couldn't help it. He would ask the Order to look into his new neighbour, if they weren't already that is.

"Oh, Ethan's a lot of things, a bit of a rebel and jokester definitely, but he's most certainly not a wizard." Petunia dismissed her husband. "You just have to get used to him."

"I don't care. I don't want to 'get used' to him. I forbid you to ever see that man again!"

Harry was relieved to hear this. . . until he noticed the expression on his aunt's face.

"Vernon Alexander Dursley," she began in a low, dangerous voice, the kind Professor Snape had perfected into an artform, "you actually think you can forbid me to see an old friend of mine?"

"I'm sorry honey, but I'm afraid I have to put my foot down. That man is complete riff raff and I will not have my wife associating with people like that!"

Apparently that was the wrong answer.

Harry had been living with the Dursleys for over 16 years. He had been subjected to the hate, scorn, anger and downright cruelty of both his aunt and uncle. But he had never, ever seen his aunt this angry. Within ten minutes his ears were ringing and he wasn't even the one being yelled at.

He escaped by stumbling out the back door and into the garden. He turned around and stared at the door, going over what he'd just witnessed in his head.

"Wotcher Harry!" Tonks suddenly said from beside him, making him cry out and jump in surprise.

"Tonks! Don't do that!"

"So, what's wrong? You look like you'd just heard Dumbledore give up sweets for life."

Harry chuckled at the image and then told her what just happened.

"Well, I certainly hope she gives him a piece of her mind!" Tonks huffed at the end of Harry's story. "Imagine, having the gall to forbid his wife from seeing an old friend of hers! What an idiot!"

Harry just stared. And then decided that he knew even less about woman than he had thought he did.

"Well. . . could you maybe keep an eye on the bloke. he looked kinda suspicious. And he had had some sort of mark on his forearm that I think he said he had gotten rid of with sulphuric acid."

"Ouch."

Harry shot the auror an annoyed look.

"All right, all right," she threw her hands up, "I'll look into it. But Harry, I don't even think the Dark Mark can be removed that way. Otherwise I think Severus would've done it a long time ago."

"Severus?"

"Uhhh. . . I mean Professor Snape. . . which reminds me, I should probably go inform the Order about your new neighbour."

Then with a small pop she was gone, leaving Harry standing in the middle of his backyard wondering if this day could get any stranger.

He didn't notice Ethan watching everything from behind a curtain. After Tonks disapparated, he observed Harry for another five minutes. Then he closed the curtains and turned to the other individual in the room.

"Well Lucy," he said, "it looks like things might just be getting interesting."

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Well, I hope you enjoyed that. Now please review and let me know how I did.


	2. Part 2 of 3

**Thank you** to everyone who reviewed. As you can see, I couldn't resist and had to post the next part up tonight. Oh well, the third, and last one's the longest: these first two are really just preludes to the action.

**J-Kid** - I really like Ethan's character, he's a personal favourite of mine. Sorry to disappoint, but this isn't going to be a mentoring fic. Well, honestly, it's only got 3 parts and that isn't really long enough. Glad you like this so far though.

**ldypebsaby** - Thanks and as you can see, I have!

**Wytil** - I think I would honestly pay money to see Lucius's reaction if someone were to call him Lucy. Doesn't mean Ethan isn't that person though. And I am also a huge fan of Buffy/HP crossovers.Thanks for reviewing!

**Moonjava** - Thanks for being my first reviewer for this story! Hope you like this chapter just as much.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter universe. I also do not own the Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe.

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**Vengence - Part 2**

When Petunia began spending less time at home, it became instantly noticeable. It wasn't like she was never at home, she just wasn't constantly home anymore. She also seemed to be happier than Harry ever remembered seeing her.

Dudley especially found this very confusing when he finally arrived home for the summer. He even went so far as to ask Harry about it. Harry was delighted to have something to tease his cousin with and was determined not to tell Dudley anything for at least a day or two. However, one solid punch from Dudley both knocked him over and convinced him otherwise. So, Dudley found out about their new neighbour.

The Order still had no important information about Ethan. Everything they could find out said that he was an ordinary muggle. Yes, they found evidence that he was interested in the occult and supernatural, but there were plenty of muggles like that. Most were of the opinion that his history was too detailed for him to be a pureblood. Although Moody was convinced it was an impostor using polyjuice.

Dudley thought for a bit about what Harry told him and then decided to take the direct approach. He went and knocked on Ethan's door. When dinnertime rolled around and he still wasn't home, Harry was beginning to hope (though if anyone asked he was worried) that Ethan had given him over to Voldemort as a chew toy for Nagini. Unfortunately, Dudley made it to dinner with seconds to spare.

"So. . . I met the new neighbour today," Dudley announced to the entire dinner table.

"What! When?" uncle Vernon asked.

"He already said today dear, pay attention," Petunia admonished her husband gently. Harry thought she seemed a bit nervous as well though.

"What did you think of him?" Harry asked, honestly too curious to care if he got glared at.

"Oh, I think he's absolutely brilliant! A bit odd, but brilliant!"

Vernon and Petunia both frowned at that.

"Son, from now on, you will avoid Ethan Rayne like the plague," Vernon put on his "strict father" act.

"Unless of course you really do get along with him," Petunia quickly interrupted, "because of course he knows better than to do anything to anyone from my family."

Dudley and Harry both watched in fascination as Dudley's parents engaged in a glaring contest. Petunia won and Vernon looked away, fuming. Then she looked back to her son.

"Dudley darling, I just want you to be careful around Ethan. It's not that he's a bad person, it's just that he can get a bit out-of-control at times."

Dudley nodded.

Petunia's change made life at 4 Private Dr. interesting and reasonably bearable for Harry. It wasn't until a letter from Ron arrived that he realized he wasn't supposed to be at Private Dr. anymore.

Hiya Harry!

Hope the muggles aren't treating you too badly. Sorry it's taken me so long to write, but dad said I couldn't. Something about problems with Order security. No one wanted to sit down and explain it to me, so I'm not really sure what's going on. Anyway, dad says to hang tight and be careful about going outside and stuff. They'll be there to pick you up at the end of the week.

Can't wait to show you my new broom that I got from Fred and George.

Ron.

Only after reading the letter did Harry realize that the Order were almost two weeks late in picking him up. What amazed him, was that he hadn't even noticed. And it was all because of Petunia. She was much more laid back now and was actually being nice to him. When she baked cookies she always made sure to offer him some and he knew it was her who always went down the hall after Vernon had gone to bed and unlocked the door to Harry's room.

Dudley too seemed to be treating Harry like less of a parasite and more of a human being. They actually had conversations that consisted of more than insults. His cousin had somewhere acquired an interest in magic and asked Harry questions about the Wizarding World.

As much as Harry loved the positive attention, he was completely baffled by it.

At least Vernon was still the same. He still treated Harry with contempt and hatred, although he didn't really have time to be truly mean to him on account of having to tip toe around Petunia.

Contrary to popular belief, Vernon Dursley was not completely stupid. He could see the changes in his wife, the least of which he liked was how she was now confrontational and no longer simply agreed with everything he said. It was as if she had suddenly grown a mind of her own and Vernon didn't know how to handle it. He also had noticed how much time his wife was spending away from home. The first thing he did every day when he came home from work and stepped out of his car, was shoot a glare at Ethan's house.

One day, when Vernon came home only to find that his wife hadn't bothered to cook a proper dinner, but ordered Chinese takeout instead, he finally confronted her. Harry was amazed he hadn't done it sooner.

Their screaming reverberated through the house. After about twenty minutes, Dudley and Harry shared a look, then silently crept away from the table and dashed up the stairs, both hiding in their respective rooms. Eventually the door to the master bedroom slammed shut.

The next morning Harry went down to make breakfast and found his uncle snoring on the couch. He and Tonks had a good laugh about that later on when he met her in the garden.

"Good for her," the young auror had said, "if he's going to accuse her of cheating on him he'd better have proof, or at least get his facts straight first."

"But I'm not really sure that he's wrong," Harry said carefully. Tonks snorted.

"Harry," she said, "when your aunt leaves for the afternoon, it's not Ethan she visits. Well, not usually anyway."

"Where does she go then?"

"We're not really sure. . . some big, old building in the outskirts of London. There are usually a lot of young girls in and around it, so we think it might be some sort of girl's school. However, it's completely non-magical and the people inside are definitely muggles. Though there is a really interesting muggle magic shop a block away. I managed to get Severus some really rare potions ingredients in there."

Harry decided he didn't want to know why Tonks was buying his potion's professor rare potions ingredients. They talked some more and then Harry went back inside the house. He was about to announce himself when he heard someone crying. Slowly, he inched towards the living room.

His aunt was sitting on the couch, talking to someone on the phone. There were tears streaming down her cheeks.

"I can't believe it, after all those years he still thinks I'm capable of being unfaithful to him," she sobbed. "I mean, I know I'm a lot of things, but I've always been loyal to my friends and family. I gave up everything for that man, Ripper. . . to hear him accuse me of betrayal . . . with Ethan of all people. . . it, it hurt. . . I just. . ." She broke down sobbing.

Harry knew he shouldn't eavesdrop on such a private moment, but he simply couldn't bring himself to leave. It had never occurred to him what kind of effect his uncle's words would have on his aunt. It suddenly dawned on him that Petunia Dursley loved her husband very deeply. He had never really thought about it; the Dursleys were not a very openly emotional couple, so he hadn't seen any evidence of it. Until now.

Whoever Ripper was (and Harry couldn't think of a more death eateresque name, unless it was Killer or Slasher), he was apparently talking to Petunia, because she eventually calmed down.

"Thanks Ripper," she finally whispered. Then she chuckled quietly.

"I've spent my entire life calling you Ripper. Calling you Rupert after all those years feels wrong. And I am not calling you Giles like all your little protogés do. So it's either Ripper or G-man, take your pick."

There was a pause and Petunia giggled. That reminded Harry of what he was doing. He quietly slipped away and went to write down everything he had just heard. Maybe now Tonks could find out who Ripper was.

Finally, the end of the week came. At 9 am Saturday morning Harry sat on top of his trunk in the middle of the Dursley's living room. He knew that he didn't have to bring his stuff down, but he had been up since around seven and had had too much energy to simply sit around and wait.

Petunia was the first of the Dursleys to come down. She raised an eyebrow at the trunk and owl cage, but otherwise said nothing. Vernon scowled. Dudley wasn't home: he had spent the night at a friend's house.

At exactly five minutes after ten a "thump" sound came from the Dursley's fireplace. Harry jumped up.

"Mr. Weasley!" he exclaimed happily and ran towards the new arrival.

"Oh hello Harry," his best friend's father said, enveloping him into a bear-hug. "It's nice to see you again. Where are Tonks and Moody?"

"Tonks and Moody. . .?" There was a knock at the door.

"Oh, that must be them now," Mr. Weasley said, relaxing slightly, "do be a good boy and let them in please."

Harry went to open the door. As he grasped the doorknob, his aunt walked out of the kitchen.

"Harry. . .?" she said a bit uneasily.

"Yes aunt Petunia?" he asked as he opened the door. He froze when he saw her eyes go wide in horror.

"Mr. Potter, we meet again," drawled a familiar, aristocratic voice from the doorway.

Harry's turned around and found himself staring straight at the tip of Lucius Malfoy's wand.

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Hope everyone out there loves cliffhangers, 'cause I might just leave you with this one for a while. Or not, depending on how many reviews I get. That probably means the last part will be up sometime this weekend.

Please review!


	3. Part 3 of 3

**Well, here it is:** the final part of this story. And the longest. Thank you very much for all the reviews. I'm absolutely amazed at how many I've gotten. I'm also very, very happy that you all liked my wonderful little cliff hanger. :D

**Tanydwr** - No, actually there is no punching involved in this fic, oddly enough. Oh, no wait, I lie: Dudley punched Harry in the last chapter. But I'm glad you like crossovers: it's all I ever write. I love them too!

**Fuji the Hobbit -** Yup, Giles was called Ripper when he was young. Actually that's all Ethan ever calls him, even when they meet up later on. That's why I figured it's what Petunia would call him. As for other cast members. . . well, all you have to do is read this part to find out!

**ldypebsaby - **Lol, that's just the response I love to hear when I write a cliff hanger. I actually was originally going to combine it with part of this chapter, but leaving it hanging like that was just waaaay too tempting. Here's the rest of it though.

**Wytil -** As much as I love the image of Petunia beating Lucius over the head with his own arm, sorry, will not happen. Besides, slayers can't retire: they're the slayer 'till they die and another one can't be called until they die. If Petunia was a slayer, then Buffy wouldn't've been called. And yeah, I know the rules have changed and all, but I don't know, I'm under the impression that there has to be some sort of age limit on potentials that can be activated. Petunia's past her activation date in my opinion.

**lovemehatemejustdon'tfearme** - You'll just have to read on to find out who else shows up. Though I will say yes, Ethan isn't the only character who will show up in the flesh. And I'm very happy that you're hooked!

Also thanks to: **MadMurderingMadi**, **veela princess, thedarklordsonlyheir** and **Moonjava.**

Diclaimer: Not mine, none of it.

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**Vengeance - Part 3**

"Mr. Potter, we meet again," drawled a familiar, aristocratic voice from the doorway.

Harry's turned around and found himself staring straight at the tip of Lucius Malfoy's wand.

"Malfoy," Harry spat.

"I'm flattered you remember me," the blond aristocrat raised an eyebrow and then motioned forward with his wand, "now if you would kindly move so that we can come in."

Harry's mind started racing, trying to figure out how to get to his wand and disable Malfoy without getting cursed into next Tuesday. For the moment he decided that moving would be the best idea. He slowly turned around and walked towards the living room. As he was turning he noticed three more death eaters entering the house. Unlike their leader though, they all had their masks up, so it was impossible to tell who he was dealing with.

'Ok, so this might just be a little harder than I thought,' he reasoned, trying to remain calm while every inch of his common sense was telling him to just run and keep running until he hit something safe. 'I hope Mr. Weasley heard them enter and is ready for them. I never thought I'd ever think this, but Merlin I hope it's Snape under one of those masks.'

Out of the corner of his eye he saw one of the death eaters grab his aunt and shove her in the direction of the living room. She stumbled slightly, but got the message and walked with the rest of the procession.

Harry walked as quickly as he could without giving himself away. He walked into the Dursley's living room fully expecting to be shoved aside by Mr. Weasley, before a fight ensued.

Unfortunately no such thing happened. Harry gaped as he saw the member of the Order of the Phoenix who was sent to fetch him fiddling with the tv remote and watching in awe as the picture on the tv screen changed.

Harry coughed.

"Umm. . . Mr. Weasley. . .?" he said nervously, now getting the feeling that he was truly doomed.

"Harry, what is this fascinating muggle contraption called?" he answered, not even looking up.

"Who gives a damn what it's bloody called!" Petunia Dursley shrieked. "We're under attack you imbecile!"

Arthur Weasley looked up and dropped the remote at almost the same time. By the look on his face, he was clearly thinking: "Oh shit!"

"Hello Arthur, how nice to see you again," Malfoy placed a hand on Harry's shoulder to stop him from moving any further. "Now I want you to slowly reach into your robes and take your wand out." Mr. Weasley did as he was told. "Very good, now drop it. Don't even think of using it. After all, you wouldn't want something nasty to happen to Harry here, now would you?"

"But your master wants him alive," Arthur challenged, "you won't kill him no matter what!"

"True, the Dark Lord does want Mr. Potter alive, but that doesn't mean that all four limbs need be attached to his body."

Arthur looked as if he might say something along the lines of "You wouldn't dare!" until he realized who he was talking to. He didn't say a word and reluctantly dropped his wand, wondering for all the world, how the hell he was going to get out of this one.

"Draco, go get his wand," Lucius commanded. Harry looked up as the smallest of the three masked death eaters moved to obey.

"Malfoy," he spat in disgust, "so you did become a death eater!"

"And what pray tell did you think he was going to become: a house elf?" Lucius asked, amusement evident in his tone.

Only Petunia noticed Lucius's son pause before he picked up Arthur's wand and stood up.

"Snap it." Draco did as he was told and tossed the two useless pieces of wood onto the couch. Lucius removed his hand from Harry's shoulder and reached down slip Harry's wand from where it was sticking out of the back pocket of his jeans.

"This one too. Wouldn't want Mr. Potter here to get any bright ideas about trying to escape."

Harry watched with wide eyes as his wand was bent into an unnatural curve. With a loud 'snap' it broke into two pieces. He stared at it. It had been his companion through the last 6 years and now it was gone. He didn't have time to think about it any longer because Lucius chose that moment to shove him hard and send him crashing into the coffee table.

As Harry pushed himself up, he happened to look out the window and saw Ethan standing out on the lawn holding one end of a terrier's leash, looking directly at Harry. He reached inside the pocket of his black leather jacket and pulled out a cell phone. Harry saw him quickly dial a number and then put the phone to his ear as he turned around and rushed to his own house, the dog at his heels.

'Well, at least this means he might not be a death eater after all,' Harry thought.

"What's going on in there!" Harry heard Vernon call from the dinning room, breaking Harry from his revere. There was some shuffling and then to Harry's horror his uncle appeared in the doorway on the opposite end of the room, which lead to the dinning room. Vernon's eyes took one good sweep of the room and noticed the death eater standing by the fireplace, holding his wife by the upper arm.

"Get your hands off my wife!" he bellowed. "And get out of my house you freaks!"

With that he began to advance on the death eaters. Harry wasn't sure whether to be amazed at his uncle's sudden courage or his colossal stupidity.

"Avada Kadavra."

It only couldn't taken the green curse a few seconds to reach its target, but those few seconds seemed to hang in the air for eternity. Slowly, oh so slowly, the sickly green beam of light emerged from Lucius Malfoy's wand and inched its way across the living room at 4 Private Dr. until it hit Vernon Dursley's huge form. Vernon stopped in his tracks, as if the curse had only stunned him. Then he collapsed onto the ground like a huge mound of jell-o.

"Vernon!"

Petunia wrenched herself away from the death eater who was holding her and threw herself at her husband's limp form. She was shaking as she brushed the hair away from his face.

"Vernon, darling, please wake up. . . don't leave me, I love you. . . please don't leave me Vernon, please, please wake up. . ." she babbled incoherently as she kissed Vernon's still face, desperately looking for any indication he could hear her.

"Muggles are so pathetic," Lucius sneered. Harry stared at the scene in shock. He had never liked Vernon Dursley, and although he had often wished he would just die, he hadn't meant it. Not like this. He could feel anger slowly rise up in his chest.

Dudley chose that moment to return home.

"Mum, dad?" he called from the front hall. "Why is the front door open?"

Petunia stilled, still hovering over her husband. Harry's eyes widened in horror, looking towards the living room doorway, waiting for the inevitable to happen. It did. Dudley appeared in it less than a minute later. He froze when he saw the crowd inside his living room. Then he noticed his mother kneeling over the limp form of his father.

"Mum. . .? What's going on?"

"What's going on is that you're wasting space by existing muggle," Lucius spat, then his expression brightened, "Draco, what a wonderful opportunity for you to demonstrate your killing curse."

Lucius motioned to his son, who hesitantly stepped forward. The other two masked death eaters moved away from Dudley, as if giving Draco more room. Dudley stood rooted to the spot, eyes wide in the realization that he was about to die. Draco slowly raised his wand. His hand was shaking slightly. Dudley stared into the blank mask, pleading with the stranger behind it not to go through with it.

It seemed like they had all held their breath for an eternity. Slowly Draco lowered his wand. He looked away from Dudley's face.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I can't."

In two strides Lucius crossed to where his son stood and backhanded him. Draco's head went spinning to the right and his mask shifted so that the left side of his neck was visible along with some white blond hair at the nape of his neck.

"Then you are weak," his father growled. "Crucio."

Draco screamed in agony and collapsed to his knees. Harry had never thought he would sympathize with his school rival, but now he found himself doing just that. He had felt the crutatious curse before and knew the pain Draco was going through. His mouth went dry as he watched the young death eater scream in pain.

'All because he refused to kill another human being,' he thought. Harry suddenly felt anger course through his veins. Anger on behalf of his rival, for the fact that he was now forced to sympathize with the person who had been the bane of his existence since he had entered Hogwarts and for his own helplessness.

Lucius lifted the curse and the room was silent except for Draco's laboured breathing. Harry fumed, Dudley stared, Petunia knelt at Vernon's side, holding his lifeless hand with one hand, her other hand clenched into a tight fist and Arthur held back tears that threatened to spill from the corners of his eyes.

"Now then, since apparently my son is somewhat incapacitated at the moment. . ." Lucius casually began. Petunia's head shot up, she hadn't known Draco was Lucius's son. Her eyes narrowed. "I suppose it is up to me to finish this."

Lucius pointed his wand at Dudley, who stiffened. He gulped and closed his eyes, hoping it would be painless. Pleading was useless now, he realized, the only thing he could hope for was a swift death.

Harry took a breath, looking at the what the other two death eaters were doing. They were watching the rest of the room, wands pointed at the group. Suddenly Harry was furious. Of all the times for a death eaters to decide to attack him at home and kill his cousin, did it have to be after he was actually starting to like him and get along with him? Last year he wouldn't have cared nearly as much. He might even have hosted a party to celebrate.

Through the haze of weariness and pain that followed the crutatious curse, Draco lifted his head as far as he could. He felt miserable. Every part of his body hurt and he was a failure. He had failed his father. All he wanted to do was curl up and die in peace. He didn't even have the energy to watch as his father did what his son could not. His head felt so incredibly heavy. . . just then he saw Harry's aunt lower her head and close her eyes in concentration, as if she was trying to remain calm. Then his eyes wandered to Harry Potter. Potter looked so furious he thought he might just burst at any second.

"Avada Ke-" Lucius never finished the curse. All of a sudden he went crashing into the wall, hitting his head on the top of the fireplace. He cursed under his breath and rubbed the back of his head. Then he straightened up and glared at Harry, who stared back with a stunned expression.

"Mr. Potter, you may think that this display of wandless magic has a chance of saving your cousin, but. . ."

"Don't. You. Dare. Hurt. My. Son."

The voice sent chills down Harry's spine. He knew it had to be his aunt who said that, but if it was then her voice sounded several octaves lower than it should have.

"And what do you think a pathetic muggle such as you could possibly. . ." Lucius's condescending sneer was stopped when Petunia Dursley let go of her dead husband's hand and held it out in time for Lucius's wand to go sailing neatly into it. She chuckled confidently as she began to stand up.

"You're the one who's pathetic Malfoy," she said in that same, deep, dangerous-sounding voice that almost seemed to echo in the room, "what kind of a freak needs a wand to do magic?"

She was standing now, but hadn't looked up yet. Instead she looked at the wand in her hand. She tightened her grip on it. Nothing happened for a while. Harry saw Lucius motioning to the other two death eaters to kill her when the ends of his wand suddenly caught fire. Lucius's attention shifted from what he was doing to stare, wide-eyed at his wand as it began to burn up and disappear. His eyes narrowed and he took a furious step towards Petunia, ready to wring her neck with his bare hands for that if had to.

"You killed my husband," Petunia accused him in that same voice. Then she looked up.

Lucius froze, his eyes going even wider than before. One of the death eaters behind him gasped. Harry saw Mr. Weasley shoot him a curious glance. He was standing behind Petunia and so couldn't see what they saw. Harry would've told him what was going on, but he had to find his voice first.

"For that you shall pay." It was a statement. Not a threat, or even a promise, but a statement of fact. Petunia raised a hand and all three death eaters that were still standing were thrown against the wall.

Mr. Weasley, the only one of the assembled people who still seemed capable of rational thought, took advantage of the incapacitated death eaters and took away their wands. He tore off their masks and noted they were both out cold.

"Well, that takes care of that," he stated in an almost cheery voice, "thank you very much Mrs. Dursley, though I must say I don't know how. . ." He turned to finally look at Petunia. Suddenly he understood why everyone was so shaken.

Her eyes were completely pitch black: no irises, no pupils, just bottomless black.

The front door slammed shut.

Petunia lifted her other hand as a non-existent breeze surrounded her, lifting the edge of the flowery skirt she was wearing and ruffling her short, wavy hair. Harry could feel the magic emanating from her; it was dark, but different than Voldemort's.

"I am Petunia born Evans and I call upon Mars, the god of war, hear my plea and help my cause. I call upon Apophasis, Lord of chaos, hear my summons. And finally I call upon Chaos itself: hear me, give me power and help my cause. I summon forth D'Hoffren. Hear me Lord of Vengeance and answer my summons. I have been wronged and I wish to bring suffering to him who wronged me. I thirst for vengeance! Hear me D'Hoffren and come!"

Six years of magic school and Harry was sure he had never heard of a similar incantation, not even from Hermione. He was honestly curious to see if it would work. Arthur was experiencing the same mixture of being terrified and curious. He worked at the Ministry of Magic and was a member of the Order of the Phoenix, but he had also never heard of a muggle doing incantaions.

Lucius Malfoy was also clueless as to what was going on. He had practiced Dark Arts his entire life, but had never heard of anything being like this being preformed before. Although somewhere in the back of his mind, something told him he should knew the name D'Hoffren from somewhere.

From where he was laying slumped leaning against the Dursley's recliner, Draco remembered back to the demonology book he had discovered in the Malfoy library earlier in the summer. 'Fuck,' was the only thought he had the energy for.

A column of flames suddenly erupted between Petunia and the fireplace, beside which Lucius was pinned to the wall. They subsided and in their place stood a tall being wearing black robes. It had a bluish, almost goat-like face with a pair of twisted horns atop its head, a long, thin white beard and beady red eyes.

Lucius Malfoy gaped as he realized that this common muggle had just summoned a demon. His son, on the other hand, was thinking how he somehow expected the High Lord of Vengeance Demons to be somewhat more terrifying.

"Aaahh, Petunia," D'Hoffren said in a pleasant voice that surprised everyone present, "it's been a while. Now what can I do for you."

"That man killed my husband," Petunia pointed to Lucius and released the magic that kept him pinned to the wall. He slumped to the ground as the Head Vengeance Demon turned his head to look at him.

"Lucius Malfoy. . . hmmm, I was wondering how long it would be before I was called to deal with you. There are many people out there who wish many nasty things to happen to you. You have been fortunate thus far because none of them have known how to go about making that happen. Until now."

It amazed Harry how someone so obviously evil could sound so much like Dumbledore.

"Petunia, wait!" Harry turned in confusion just in time to see Ethan rush in through the wall. And stumble over the couch.

'I thought Tonks said he was a muggle.' Harry was really confused now.

"Whatever you're about to do, don't. You know you'll only regret it later. Think about your family: Dudley and that charming husband of yours. . ."

"Shut up Ethan!" Petunia commanded and Ethan winced at the sound of her voice, as if it was something he was hoping he wasn't going to hear. "My husband is dead and that man killed him."

"Oh." This was apparently news to Ethan. He shrugged and plopped himself down on the couch. "Well, in that case, please, don't let me stop you."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Now Petunia, what do you wish?" D'Hoffren addressed Harry's aunt. There was a pause.

"I wish for Lucius Malfoy to become a muggle, unrecognizable to any who ever knew him. I wish for him to be mute and mentally unreadalbe and to become the Dark Lord's next plaything."

D'Hoffren smiled.

"You always did have such a wonderful imagination Petunia," the demon lord said. He snapped his fingers and Lucius disappeared. "And what of them?" he gestured to the remaining death eaters.

"Let the wizards deal with them," Petunia answered, "I hear Azkaban is quite a nasty place, after all."

D'Hoffren bowed his head and departed the same way he had arrived. From his place on the couch, Ethan clapped.

"Bravo Petunia," he grinned from ear to ear, "that was superbly done." His expression became serious. "But now I think it's time you calmed down and . . . "

"I will not calm down!" she screamed with such force that Ethan went flying back onto the couch.

"Wonderful, just wonderful," Harry heard Ethan mumble, "I'm going to strangle the moron who let her near magic again."

Meanwhile, Petunia turned to Arthur Weasley and advanced. Arthur backed away from her until he tripped over one of the death eaters lying on the ground.

"You freaks couldn't protect my sister and her family," Petunia began in a frighteningly calm voice, "my perfect sister, whose magic was all good and wonderful. But me? I was always just a muggle. I was more powerful than Lily, but always a muggle to you lot. All because of some stupid piece of parchment I never received. All because I didn't need to wave a stupid little stick around. And then, after I'd finally given it all up, settled down to a life without it, He showed up on my doorstep. My sister's son: full of her magic, the good magic. You couldn't just let it be either, no, you just had to send him a letter didn't you. Bring it back into my house. Freaks!"

The front door suddenly burst open. Harry couldn't see out into the hall, but he saw Dudley look out and stare in awe at whatever was out there.

"Well it's about fucking time," Ethan said, coming up to stand beside Harry. But Harry didn't have time to ask what he was talking about when a white light walked into the room. At the same moment Harry felt a wave of pure magic wash over him. Where Voldemort's and even his aunt's magic had felt dark and heavy, this magic he was feeling was light and felt almost pure. But it was so strong that it threatened to overwhelm him. He had to shield his eyes from the intensity of the light. Through his fingers he saw a figure standing in the light.

'No,' he suddenly realized, 'she's emanating the light.'

It was a petite woman with long, red hair. She was wearing a white peasant blouse and a long jean skirt. Without the light she would've passed for an ordinary muggle. Her hair was being blown out of her face by a similar non-existent breeze as Petunia's had. Except that the wind around this woman seemed stronger.

"Stop!" she commanded. Petunia had by now turned away from Arthur Weasley and was watching the newcomer.

"He killed the man I love," she said, "he had to pay."

"I know," the woman answered in a kind voice, "I can feel your sorrow and your pain. But you're not alone." She stepped aside and gestured to Dudley. "You have a son to take care of."

"A son. . ." Petunia looked at Dudley in a daze, "Dudley. . . my child, my Dudley. . ."

Dudley watched his mother in amazement. This was the woman who had given birth to him? He didn't know whether to be terrified of her or admire her. He had always thought of her as such a plain, conservative woman, nothing remarkable. She had always shied away from magic, been afraid of it. From the moment he met Ethan he had guessed there was more to it, but this was beyond anything he could ever have imagined.

But right now he just wanted his mother back.

"Mum?" he said quietly.

"Let us help you," the strange woman said to Petunia, reaching her hand out. Petunia looked at the hand and then at her son. Then she looked directly into the woman's face and took her hand.

A dark light surrounded Petunia in that instant and the whole room watched as it was slowly devoured by the bright light from the redheaded witch. Petunia's arched her back as if in pain, her lips parted in a silent scream.

The light went out and Petunia let go of the other woman's hand. Her eyes were back to normal, but she looked as if she was about to collapse. Which she did.

"Petunia!" Ethan cried and ran to catch her as she fell. Slowly he lowered her down to the ground.

"Willow, are you ok?" a new voice called from the hall.

"Yep, just dandy," the redhead, who Harry assumed must be Willow, said although she was swaying slightly. She looked around and blinked, trying to get her bearings.

"Oh my God Ethan," Petunia said, "I. . . I just killed a man, I sent him to his death. He was human and I. . ."

"Petunia, luv," Ethan interrupted her gently, "he killed the man you loved. He deserves everything that's coming to him."

Willow knelt down beside her.

"Hey," she said, "at least you didn't go all veiny and try to destroy the world."

Petunia chuckled through her tears. Harry was even more confused now.

Just then a man wearing glasses, a brown tweed jacket and blue jeans walked into the living room. He quickly scanned the room.

"How is she Ethan?" he asked, when he saw the group huddle on the floor.

"She'll be fine," Ethan said, "though I must say it took you long enough getting here Ripper."

'This is Ripper!' Harry thought, taking another look at the man, who was apparently taking control of the situation. He couldn't believe it. He had expected some tattoos, piercings, a shaved head, some spikes sticking out of somewhere or chains and leather at least. But this man looked not only normal, but incredibly dull as well.

"What happened?" Willow asked, looking to Ethan.

"Well, I was walking Lucy. . . that would be my dog, not my girlfriend. . . when I happened to look in and see that Petunia here was in a bit of trouble, so I phoned you and then came over myself. Turns out they had been attacked by four death eaters. One of them killed her husband and Petunia got a bit upset and knocked them all out."

"Right then," Ripper said after a brief pause and turned to the newest collection of unfamiliar faces in the doorway, "Dawn, Vi, tie them up." He gestured at the death eaters and two young girls with long, brown hair walked up to the death eaters and began to do just that. Then he took another sweep of the room with his eyes.

"Ethan," he began carefully, "I thought you said there were four of them."

"There were."

"Then we are apparently missing one."

"She summoned D'Hoffren. Trust me, the last one is no longer a problem."

"She summoned D'Hoffren!" one of the girls asked. "And he came? Wow, she must be super powerful then. I mean not like Willow, but then no one's as powerful as Willow, but still. . . that's like so cool!"

"Yeah," the other one agreed and Harry suddenly realized they were both American, "hey, I don't suppose you want to come work at the Council, 'cause we could really use some magical help right now and - woah! What the hell happened to this guy!"

"Which guy Dawn?" Willow asked. She stood up and walked over to where the second girl was kneeling.

Draco Malfoy looked up to see two large brown eyes looking down at him with curiosity. He must've blacked out, he didn't remember this girl. How long had she been here, standing over him, watching him? He noticed she was wearing muggle clothing. Another came to stand beside her. He raised his head just as she knelt beside the other girl. She reached out to touch him.

"He's been hit by some sort of curse, dark and pretty nasty by the looks of it," she said.

"What kind of curse," an unknown male voice asked.

"Not sure, but I think it was meant to cause lots of pain."

"Well, that makes sense," the girl with brown eyes said without a hint of concern in her voice, "'cause he sure looks lots 'o hurt."

Harry marvelled at how commonplace the whole situation seemed to the two girls who looked for all the world as if they were ordinary muggles. Clearly they weren't witches, because otherwise they would've used a spell to tie the death eaters up with and they would've recognized the Crutatious Curse for what it was. Yet they talked about magic and curses as if it was completely natural for them.

"His father punished him when he wouldn't kill my son," Petunia told the newcomers. The girls' heads turned to her.

"What!" they all cried in one voice. Then they looked at each other.

"Ok, that was way creepy," the one kneeling by Draco said.

"Yeah, I think we've been spending way too much time together," the other one added.

"Agreed. When we get back to Slayer Central, no more spending so much time together. Unless we're training."

"Ok, back to blondie now," Willow interrupted.

"Take him with you," Petunia said.

"What?" Ripper asked.

"Dawn said you need someone with magical knowledge. He could've killed Dudley and he didn't; I think he deserves a chance. He's been marked by the Dark Lord; the Wizarding World isn't going to want him unless it's to throw him in prison. Besides, isn't taking in dark heros what you specialize in?"

Dawn smiled and turned back to Draco.

"Well, in that case, welcome to the family. My name's Dawn, this is Willow, that's Vi and the man cleaning his glass religiously over there is Giles. Call him G-man though; he really hates it."

"Draco," came a reply so soft that Dawn almost missed it.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"Draco," he tried again in a voice hoarse from screaming, "name's Draco."

"Draco. . . that means dragon doesn't it? Cool!"

"Jo, people, could someone move their butt over my way and help me!" came a yell from the kitchen. "I may be big and strong, but I only got two hands!"

"Put me down this instant you insolent girl! I am not some damsel in distress that needs rescuing!"

"Moody!" Arthur cried and ran out after the voice. Harry also suddenly remembered that Mr. Weasley had mentioned that Moody and Tonks were supposed to have been here to escort him back to 12 Grimmauld Place. That felt like a lifetime ago, but really it was only about an hour ago. He ran out into the hall to take the shortcut into the kitchen.

Arthur was already there helping a dark-haired girl with Moody. Tonks was leaning against the doorframe with her back to the yard. Both looked as though they could barely move and they were covered in blood and mud. Tonks had a crushed violet in her hair.

"What happened?" Harry asked her.

"We were attacked, didn't even see it coming either, damn death eaters," she answered and then narrowed her eyes, "are you ok?"

"Yeah I'm fine."

"What happened? I mean I can hardly see Lucius Malfoy going through all the trouble of attacking us only to leave you alone."

"I'll explain later and trust me, this is a story you'll _definitely_ want to hear." The girl who had been helping them returned and picked Tonks up as if she weighed nothing. Harry felt someone approach him from behind. He tensed automatically.

"Faith, how's the situation outside?" he heard Ripper ask and relaxed. The girl turned her head and grinned.

"Everything's five by five, G-man. Found these two in the bushes in the corner of the garden. They're a bit beat up, but otherwise fine."

"Good. Just leave them here, the wizards will deal with them. We're leaving."

"'K, sure thing."

Ripper walked away. Harry turned around in time to see the girl Vi carrying Draco out of the house with Dawn and Willow following.

"Ethan, will you be ok here with Petunia?" he heard Ripper ask when he stopped in front of the living room door.

"Yes, yes, we'll be fine. Now go save the world or kill some demon or whatever it is that you people do on a regular basis," came Ethan's reply. Ripper rolled his eyes.

"Well, if you need anything you apparently know how to reach me."

With that Ripper and his company left.

* * *

Not long afterwards,Harry and his belongings were flooed to the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. 

He was greeted by Mrs. Wealsey who enveloped him in a huge bear hug.

"Merlin, what took you so long!" she cried. "The clock, it showed you were in moral peril: what happened Arthur!"

"Molly, I promise we'll tell you everything, but for now can you please take a look at Tonks and Moody. They're injured." Molly Weasley looked from her husband to the two Order members in question. Her eyes went wide when she saw them.

"Oh my poor dears, lets get you both into bed, you look terrible!"

"Harry!"

"Oh my God, you're here!"

Harry turned as both his friends bounded down the stairs to greet him.

"Hey Ron, hey Hermione!" he said with a wide smile. "You have no idea how good it is to see you two again!"

"What happened, you were supposed to arrive an hour ago?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah mate, mum's been fretting something awful," Ron added.

"I'll tell you everything, but wait 'till everyone gets here. Oh and you won't believe who finally got rid of Lucius Malfoy once and for all!"

"Lucius Malfoy! Harry, now you're really scaring me," Hermione exclaimed. Harry turned away from them and walked towards the kitchen.

"Come on Harry, mate, don't keep us in suspense," Ron wined, "who got rid of Malfoy?"

"My aunt," Harry shot over his shoulder as he kept walking. There was a moment of silence.

"Your what!"

* * *

Hehe, hope you enjoyed that. I might write a one-shot follow-up for this later. What am I saying? **This** was supposed to be a one-shot!

Please review and make me happy!


	4. Epilogue

**Sorry** it took me so long to get this part written.

Originally, this part wasn't planned in the story and I'm only writing it because so many of you were so thrilled with the story. I will answer a few of your questions about Petunia and her relationship with Ethan and Giles and such during this chapter. Anything I don't answer, I'm leaving to your imagination. Also, watch for the author's not at the end of this chapter for some additional comments and explanations.

**Thank you very much to:** veela princess, eyeinthesky, Silver Warrior, inuyashas hun, lovemehatemejustdon'tfearme, Wytil, xHikari-808x, ldypebsaby, KORNfused Pyro and Moonjava for your wonderful reviews.

* * *

Vengeance - Epilogue

Two weeks passed in a hectic blur for Harry. The Order's security measures were hiked up to almost impossible levels and meetings were an almost daily event. Everyone seemed especially concerned about finding out just how the death eaters were able to bypass the protection that was supposed to be surrounding the Dursley residence. Harry spent hours retelling what had occurred there, even though he was certain that by about the tenth telling everyone must've known it by heart.

He fondly remembered the first time he had told the tale, sitting in the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place, surrounded by almost the entire Order of the Phoenix. If Mr. Weasley had not been there to confirm his words, Harry was sure by the looks on their faces that no one would've believed him.

When he mentioned the arrival of Lucius Malfoy and the death eaters, there were gasps around the room. Moody then accused Snape of being a traitor and a lousy spy. Snape, of course didn't take kindly to the accusation. It had taken Dumbledore's special brand of magic to calm the two men down enough for Harry to continue.

When he told how Lucius had killed his uncle Vernon, there were murmurs of sympathy from his audience. Except for Ron, who said "Good riddance" instead and promptly got smacked upside the head from his mother and received a harsh glare from Hermione.

Naturally, the entire Order had been shocked when he told them what Petunia had done. At the part where Ethan came barging in through the wall (Harry still hadn't figured that one out even with Hermione's help), Tonks had protested: "But I checked him out myself, he's a muggle!" Snape then sneered something about auror incompetence, which offended Moody, who said that Snape should've known about the attack in the first place. . . Once again, Dumbledore had had to step in.

Snape's sneer turned into a thoughtful expression when he heard the wish Petunia had made to the Vengeance Demon Lord. When he practically skipped into 12 Grimmauld Place with a malicious smile on his face two days later, it didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened.

After he finished, Harry knew he was witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime moment when even Professor Dumbledore admitted to being completely baffled by what had happened: why Petunia was able to do what she had done and who the people that had shown up afterwards were.

Now, two weeks later, the senior Order members had finally come to the unanimous decision that it was high time they got some answers. And it seemed the only person who could provide them with some, was Harry's aunt. So Harry, accompanied by Snape and Lupin and the Weasley twins, appararated to 4 Private Dr. to visit the house Harry had hoped he'd never have to see again.

The group apparated to the nearby park, figuring that Harry's aunt might not want them suddenly appearing in the middle of her living room. uninvited. If she was too angry, she might not answer any of their questions.

The closer Harry got to his aunt's house, the more confused he got. There was a crowd of people standing on the front lawn, chatting idly, as if waiting for something. And judging by the cracks in the neighbours' curtains, he wasn't the only one who had noticed and was curious about the commotion.

"Mr. Potter," Professor Snape asked in a low tone as they approached, "do you know any of these people?"

"No sir, I don't. . . oh wait!" Harry suddenly got a clear view of the group by the stairs. "Over there, that's the redhead who stopped my aunt and I'm pretty sure that brunette's the one who carried Mad-eye into the house."

"Harry, are you sure about that?" Lupin asked cautiously. "She doesn't seem to be a witch, let alone one with the kind of power you described. I can't feel a wand on her."

Harry thought about that for a moment.

"You know, I don't ever remember seeing her with a wand. Come to think of it, my aunt didn't use one either and neither did Ethan, though I didn't actually see him do any magic. . ."

"Merlin help us!" Snape suddenly interrupted him. "She looks like a Weasley!"

"Then it's certain. . ." said Fred, he was sure it was Fred, because he remembered that Fred was on his left and George was on his right.

"She's not someone we want to mess with. . ." continued George.

"Especially because she's a girl." Fred finished.

No one argued with them. Instead they turned onto the white stone path that led up to 4 Private Dr.. Harry had never felt nervous walking up that path before. With a dozen or so girls eyeing him warily out of the corners of their eyes, he certainly was now. What unnerved him the most was that none of them stopped their conversations. It was as if the group, which he suddenly realized was entirely made up of girls, was simply making note of the intrusion and watching him in case he decided to become dangerous.

The only male presence on the lawn was a tall, nicely tanned young man with dark hair and an eye patch, who was talking with the redhead and brunette that Harry recognized from before.

The three of them were engrossed in conversation and hadn't even seemed to have noticed the strangers approaching them. The brunette was casually leaning against the side of the house, smoking a cigarette.

Just then the front door opened and Ethan strode out with a large plate of cookies. They smelt wonderful. He turned to the group by the door and offered them one.

"Are you trying to insult my intelligence here?" the man asked. "'Cause you know, I remember very well what happened the last time Giles let you buy him a drink."

"Hey, I don't think I've heard this story yet," the brunette said, "what happened?"

"He got turned into a demon."

The brunette laughed.

"It wasn't funny, Buffy nearly killed him!" the redhead exclaimed.

"Wait, you turned someone into a demon?" George asked in awe.

"Yes, I did," Ethan turned to the Weasley twins with a wide grin on his face, "not all that difficult really. Just a simple potion, added it to his drink and voila! Ripper wakes up the next morning as a demon, by which time, I am nowhere in sight."

Harry could almost feel the wheels turning inside the Weasley twins' heads as they absorbed this piece of information.

"Oh, but please, where are my manners. I'm Ethan Rayne and do help yourselves to a cookie. They're freshly baked."

Fred and George looked at each other and then shrugged. They each grabbed a cookie. Everyone watched them intently, waiting.

When nothing happened they both looked at Ethan.

"Well, I never said I baked them did I?" he smirked and held out the plate for everyone to take one. His smile widened when he noticed Harry.

"Aaahh, Harry, hello. You know, your aunt gave the impression we'd never see you again. It's good to know that the saviour of the Wizarding World still has time for his friends and neighbours in between fighting evil snake charmers."

"Neighbours?" George asked.

"As in the next door neighbour who came in through the wall?" Fred asked.

Ethan looked confused, so Harry decided to come to his rescue.

"When aunt Petunia was talking to that demon, you somehow managed to come in through the wall. I've actually been wondering about that myself. I looked through all the books on magic I could find and I couldn't find any sort of spell that would just make the wall become passable. At least nothing that wouldn't need hours of preparation or very complicated spellwork or. . ."

"Why would it be that hard?" the redhead asked with a frown.

"Who knows," Ethan shrugged, obviously amused by Harry's rant, "honestly Harry, it's just a matter of changing the structure of the wall. Of altering reality if you will."

"You can do that?" asked Lupin, startling Harry, who had forgotten he was even there.

"Yes, of course I can, I'm not a chaos mage for nothing after all."

"Chaos mage!" the Weasley twins looked stunned.

"Isn't that dark magic?" Lupin frowned. Ethan raised an eyebrow.

"And isn't that a mite hypocritic coming from a dark creature?" he countered.

Snape chuckled darkly. But whatever he was about to add to the conversation was lost when the front door banged open again and two figures shot out of it.

"Ethan Rayne, how dare you leave the house with fresh cookies without offering us some!" Harry thought he recognized the girl speaking as one of the ones who had tied up the death eaters. He definitely recognized the blond boy who slowly came to stand beside her, staring at the five wizards from the Order.

"Professor Snape? What are you doing here?" Draco Malfoy asked.

"Professor?" the girl looked at Malfoy in surprise, then turned to Harry's group. "Which one's a professor? Of the two that it could possibly be, I mean."

Draco passed between Ethan and Dawn and motioned to Snape.

"Dawn, this is the Potions Master at Hogwarts, Professor Severus Snape. Professor, this is Dawn Summers."

"Oh, and what am I hypogriff feed?" Harry spat out.

"And that four-eyed Neanderthal over there is Harry Potter."

"And I am Remus Lupin and the two redheads are. . ."

"George Weasley."

"Fred Weasley."

"We are the proud owners. . ."

". . .of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes."

"Really?" Harry wasn't sure if the glint in Ethan's eyes reminded him more of Dumbledore or Tom Riddle. "I've been to that store. You two sound like just my kind of people."

And without so much as a word to anyone else, Ethan led the twins to the side, where they began whispering amongst one another.

"Umm. . . should I be preparing to leave the country right now?" the man with the eye patch asked, watching them.

"That depends on how bad the other two are," his redheaded friend giggled.

"Well, they're certainly a handful," Lupin chuckled.

"Wonderful. Anyway, I'm Xander, this is Faith and that's Willow." Willow smiled at the wizards and Faith semi-saluted with her cigarette.

"Now, in as much as we've figured out who and what you are. . . what do you want?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, and don't even try to feed us any crap about coming to visit your relatives," Faith added, flicking ashes from the end of her cigarette.

"Well," Lupin began, "we are part of an organization fighting You-Know-Who and . . ."

"Huh?"

"Who?"

"They mean Big V," translated Draco.

"Oh."

"Right."

"Big V?" asked Harry.

"Yeah, you know, the big bad wizard you guys are fighting," Dawn explained.

"Lord Voldimore, or whatever his name is, was too much of a mouthful, so we shortened it to Big V," Xander grinned proudly.

"Besides, Dragon Boy here was too chicken to say the full name." Faith smirked as Malfoy glared at her.

Harry chuckled. "He was, was he?"

"Yup."

"Well if you plebians are done with making fun of me, I think they're here," Malfoy said, pointing at the street.

"Well, it's about fucking time!" Faith said and threw her cigarette to the ground. Then in one fluid motion, she easily flipped herself over the railing on the front steps.

She opened the door and hollered: "Hey, jo people, they're here!"

Harry looked to the street in time to see a huge moving van beginning to ease into the Dursley's driveway. When it stopped, the girls on the lawn sprang into action. A group of them went into the house and another headed for the garage, which Harry now noticed was full of packing crates and boxes of all shapes and sizes.

'Is Aunt Petunia moving?' Harry wondered.

"Woah, he really doesn't go for the subtle approach, does he?" Harry heard Xander exclaim.

He looked back to the street and saw a big blue van parking out on the street in front of the house. By the back window there was a full moon painted on it with several small wolves howling at it with one large one that seemed to be running away from it so that its head was by the passenger-side window.

"Yeah, you'd never guess the driver's a werewolf," Willow added sarcastically.

"The driver's a what?" Lupin spun around to face the redhead. Meanwhile, Harry saw the back door of the van open and a short man with bright red, spiked hair step out. He was wearing a pair of faded jeans and a loose, orange shirt with a bunch of chains around his neck that Harry couldn't see very well.

"Hey Wolfman," yelled Xander and the stranger looked up, "nice wheels!"

"Thanks man!" the apparent werewolf answered, "Got them cheap and a buddy of mine did the paint job."

"Hi Oz," Willow waved shyly.

"Hey Wills, been a while. Heard you went and got superpowerful."

"I'm not _that_ powerful."

"Ah, yeah you are," Xander argued.

"No, I'm really not. . ."

"Willow," Draco began, "when the Dark Lord has a temper tantrum, a few people end up seriously hurt. When you had a temper tantrum, the whole bloody world nearly got destroyed. So yes, you are definitely _that_ powerful."

The three remaining wizards were shocked. They looked at one another, and Harry knew they were all thinking the same thing: this girl could be useful against Voldemort.

"Hey, enough with the talking. Get your asses over here and start helping!" Faith yelled down at the group from an open window.

"You know, this would be so much faster, not to mention easier if I could just use my wand," Draco commented.

"Oh no you don't, Mr," Willow wiggled a finger at Draco in warning, "You're completely dependent on magic. It's high time you learned to live without it!"

"Besides, if you have any aspirations of coming even close to the rest of us, you're going to have to grow some muscles on those bones of yours," Dawn added, pinching Malfoy's biceps, just to prove there was no muscle there.

"Ouch! Stop abusing me!"

"Oh, you haven't even seen abusing yet!" Xander laughed. "Come on Dragon Boy, pick a box, any box and let's get them loaded into the vans."

Surprisingly enough, Draco allowed himself to be herded into the house. Although he did grumble the entire way.

"Mr. Malfoy," Snape called after him. The blond Slytherin turned around. "Will you be returning to school in September?"

"What, so the Ministry can come collect me and cart me off to Azkaban?" Draco smirked. "No, sir, I don't think I'll be stepping foot in the Wizarding World again for quite some time. Besides, it would interfere with my Watcher training."

"Watcher training?" Harry repeated, confused. "Professor, what's a watcher?"

"A watcher is the person who teaches, guides and helps the Slayer," Willow explained, reminding Harry a lot of Hermione, only red haired and American. "Or, well, in our case, a slayer anyway, 'cause we changed all the rules a couple of years ago and there's more than one slayer now. Although, really there has been more than one slayer for a while now, ever since Buffy died the first time, so that rules really a bit outdated anyway. . ."

She smiled at them sheepishly.

"Sorry, I tend to babble sometimes. So, what was it that you needed anyway?"

"Well, really we just wanted to ask Mrs. Dursley some questions," Lupin explained.

"Oh, well, Petunia's right. . ."

". . .careful with those boxes, the dishes inside are very expensive. They were a wedding gift from. . ."

". . . there."

Harry watched as the other brunette who had arrived with Willow, Dawn and Ripper after Lucius's attack walked out the door and hold it open while several others walked out carrying big boxes marked "Fragile" in bold red letters.

"Do those boxes have charms on them?" Snape asked Willow. "They seem very heavy and yet those girls are carrying them as if they weighed nothing."

"That's one of the perks of being a Slayer!" the girl holding the door called. She noticed Harry and waved shyly. "Oh hi, I remember you. The wizards who attacked the house were after you, right? I don't know if you remember me, but I came here after Petunia kicked their, well, you know. I'm Vi, by the way."

"Um, hello Vi," Harry answered, "I'm, uh, Harry. And I do remember you."

"Cool! Nice to meet you Harry!" And with that, she slipped back into the house.

"Umm, Willow," Lupin began slowly, "we've heard this "slayer" mentioned several times. What is a slayer?"

"Oh, well. . . um. . . oooh! How 'bout I get our newest watcher-in-training to tell you. Hey Draco! Your friends want to know what a slayer is."

Malfoy passed the box he was carrying (which was considerably smaller than the one the girls were carrying) and made his way back to Harry's group.

"What?" he asked, coming to stand beside Willow.

"The spiel, Draco the spiel," she motioned for him to get on with it. He rolled his eyes.

"A slayer is a girl chosen by the Powers That Be, and given special powers, to fight vampires and the forces of darkness and to stop the spread of evil until the day she dies, however many times that may be."

"Hey, that's not the right spiel!"

"The old one's out-dated, so I modified it and made my own." Malfoy smirked. "Now if you'll excuse me, I believe there's a box somewhere in there with my name on it. And if my name's not on it then I shall go write my name on it."

"Smartass," Willow grumbled.

"Willow," Lupin said, obviously choosing his words carefully, "as we said before, the Wizarding World is in the middle of a war and if you're really as powerful as everyone says you are -"

"I'm sorry, but I can't help you," Willow cut him off.

Harry stared at her in disbelief.

"People are dying," he said, "Voldemort is gaining more and more strength by the day and if he's not stopped then. . ."

"He'll take over the world?" Dawn finished for him. Harry spun around. He hadn't heard her approach. "Newflash, Harry: there's always someone out there who wants to either take over or destroy the world. Voldemort's not the first and he sure as hell won't be the last."

"You have to understand, ever since I was 15, I've gone from one battle with evil to another." Willow paused. "We're all glad that there's someone else fighting this one. That it's one less battle we have to fight."

"Besides, we fight vampires and demons on a regular basis," Faith added, having just deposited her own load into the van, "but when it comes to the magic mojo, we're like totally out of our element."

"But, what about you Willow, you're a witch and a powerful one at that!" Lupin tried once more to make his point.

"Yeah, I'm a witch, but. . . oh how can I explain this. . . ooh, I know! When someone becomes an alcoholic, they become addicted to alcohol for life. They never stop being an alcoholic. You get that right?"

Harry and the others nodded. Willow took a deep breath, as if drawing in courage. Dawn stepped to her side and put her hand on the redhead's shoulder, as if lending her support to go on.

"Well, I'm a dark magic-aholic. They weren't joking when they said I nearly destroyed the world. Something happened and I lost control. I managed to stop myself before I went too far, but what if next time I don't stop? And, you know what, my friends say I'm probably the most powerful witch in the world. What scares me the most is that maybe they're right: what if I am the most powerful. If I loose control, what if there really is no one in the world powerful enough to stop me? I can do normal spells, but being surrounded by that much dark magic. . . I don't know if I could do it."

Willow stopped, embarrassed that she had said so much and pleading with the three wizards in front of her not to push the argument any further.

"Very well, Miss. Willow," Snape said, "I understand. It is a pity you can not help us, but there is nothing we can do about that. We thank you for your honesty."

Harry turned to look at his potion's professor in surprise.

"Thank you Professor Snape," she answered, relief evident in her voice, "oh and Petunia's probably in the kitchen with Giles if you wanted to go talk to her."

The conversation with Petunia went better than Harry had imagined it. As in she didn't try to throw them out of the house the minute she saw them.

"I thought you weren't coming back," she said. Then her eyes scanned the group, stopping when she got to Snape. "You I've never seen before."

She put down the wet rag she was using to clean the cupboards and walked up to the potion's professor, eyeing him up and down.

"I feel dark magic on you," she continued, "but I didn't think the Wizarding World approved of such things."

"We don't," stated Lupin. Petunia eyed him curiously and then threw her head back and laughed.

"Don't tell me you've come to arrest me! I'm a muggle, you have no authority over me."

"Clearly, you're not as much of a muggle as you'd have us believe," Harry said, his eyes narrowing into slits. The reality of his aunt's hypocrisy was suddenly hitting him full force and he was furious.

"Well, I never labelled myself a muggle."

"No, but you spent years lying to me, telling me magic wasn't real, that I was a freak. You not only knew magic was real, you could actually do magic!"

"Yes, and I knew what it could do! I've seen what it can do, felt it! You lot walk around waving your little sticks about like toys. You don't fully realize what raw power magic is! Go ahead, go ask Ripper about the mark on his arm. . . I'd send you after Ethan, but he burned his off."

Harry remembered his aunt grabbing Ethan's arm when he first came to introduce himself.

"What kind of mark is it?"

"It doesn't matter, the point is that they got in over their heads, tried to harness more power than they could control." Petunia seemed to be making an effort to calm down. "And so did I." She added quietly.

"Mrs. Dursley," said Lupin, "how exactly do you know Ethan and Ripper?"

"Oh, we met when we were all very young, long before I met Vernon." She stared into the distance for a moment. "I was so jealous of Lily, of how 'special' everyone kept saying she was. I wanted to be better than her so much that I didn't even hesitate when Ethan brought some old musty books. I worked so hard to become powerful, but in the end I couldn't control it. And then. . . well, something happened and I left. I closed those books and gave them back to Ethan. I vowed never to have anything to do with magic ever again. A few months later I met Vernon."

A little light went off inside Harry's head.

"Oh, so that's why you've always hated me," he said. Petunia shot him a dirty look.

"Yes, of course that's why I hate you, you ungrateful brat!"

Lupin cleared his throat.

"Yes, well, I think that's pretty much answered all of our questions, we really should be heading back to headquarters now."

"That is providing we can find the twins," Snape added.

"We're. . ."

"Right here."

Fred and George came waltzing through the kitchen door, grinning madly. Harry's first thought was that perhaps Xander was right in wanting to move out of the country.

Harry said a quite good-bye to his aunt and then the Order of the Phoenix delegation weaved their way through the people and boxes cluttering the hallway. On their way out the front door, Harry noticed that the slayers had been joined by his cousin and some of his friends.

Dudley nodded to Harry as they passed each other.

As the Boy-Who-Lived walked with Snape, Lupin and the Weasley twins back to the park where they originally apparated to, he wondered whether he'd ever seen his relatives again.

And whether he'd ever want to.

* * *

Well, that's all she wrote! Hope you liked the epilogue as much as you seemed to like the actual story. I know not a lot goes on in it, but hopefully it does tie up some loose ends. 

Please review!

Author's notes:

**Dudley -** Someone asked about whether Dudley should be able to perform magic. Yes, he probably can, but he's never tried to before, so that's why he's never done any. Remember, before Willow started helping Giles and the Scoobies with spells, she didn't know she could do magic either. Their magic is different than wizarding magic and that's why Dudley, Petunia, Willow or even Tara never got letters from a wizarding school. They're not wand-users.

**Vi - **A few of you asked about Vi. As much as after the season finale of Buffy I could've just stuck in a character I made up, I decided to use an existing one. And yes, Vi does exist on the show. She's one of the potentials that shows up in the final season. She's the one from Sunnydale: really tall and skinny with long, brown hair and some freckles (I think). She first appears as a cameo during Buffy's first day as school counsellor: she's complaining about being bullied and then reveals that she jumped the bully in the school parking lot and that's why she's been sent to Buffy. They find out she's a potential when Willow performs a spell to lead them to any potentials in the area. The spell points to Dawn and everyone thinks she's the potential, but as it turns out she's the one that finds the potential. Anyway, that was a lengthy explanation, but hopefully you all remember her now.

**Oz - **I know there's going to be questions about Oz, such as why he's in the story and all. Honestly, I just loved the idea of the van and had that whole little scene with it arriving already in my head before I began writing this. How exactly he hooked back up with the Scoobies I'll leave to your imaginations. Basically, he heard about Sunnydale, wanted to see if anyone was still alive, did some searching and found them. Or bumped into them by accident in LA, whatever.

**Spike and Angel - **Sorry to all those who were hoping our favourite vampires would make an appearance. I was originally going to include them, but then I realized that would be introducing too many elements into such a short story. Besides, if they were there, then I'd have to bring in Illyria as well and there'd also be a whole other back story of how the heck they survived that demon army. . . blah, blah, blah. Anyway, hope you weren't too disappointed.

**Buffy -** I can also see questions about Buffy popping up. She's in Italy with her boyfriend the Immortal, remember?


End file.
